Persistent absence fell from 41.5% to 16.8% and GCSE passes nearly doubled, in the Ofsted report published 8 September. Three areas graded strong.

Persistent absence at Birkenhead Park School has fallen from 41.5% to 16.8% in two years, and the proportion of pupils passing GCSE English and maths at grade 5 or above has nearly doubled. Both figures are in the Ofsted report published on Tuesday 8 September, from an inspection carried out on 30 June (inspection report, Ofsted).

The school is graded at the strong standard on three of its six evaluation areas and at the expected standard on the other three. Safeguarding standards are met.

There is no single overall grade, and that is not an omission. Ofsted’s report card system replaced the one-word judgement, so a school now carries a grade for each area separately. Aggregator sites still showing an older overall rating for this school are showing the 2023 inspection, not this one.

Birkenhead Park School Ofsted report card, inspection of 30 June 2026 Grades by evaluation area. Attendance and behaviour: strong standard. Inclusion: strong standard. Leadership and governance: strong standard. Achievement: expected standard. Curriculum and teaching: expected standard. Personal development and wellbeing: expected standard. Safeguarding: standards met. Ofsted’s scale runs exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention, urgent improvement. Birkenhead Park School: the new Ofsted report card Inspected 30 June 2026, published 8 September 2026. There is no single overall grade under this framework. Attendance and behaviour STRONG STANDARD Inclusion STRONG STANDARD Leadership and governance STRONG STANDARD Achievement EXPECTED STANDARD Curriculum and teaching EXPECTED STANDARD Personal development and wellbeing EXPECTED STANDARD Safeguarding STANDARDS MET OFSTED’S SCALE, BEST TO WORST Exceptional · Strong standard · Expected standard · Needs attention · Urgent improvement Source: Ofsted inspection report for Birkenhead Park School, URN 136411, inspection of 30 June 2026. Graphic by Wirral Online

The numbers behind the grades

The report carries three years of data. On attendance, the school has gone from well behind the national picture to ahead of it.

Birkenhead Park School against the national average, as published in the inspection report
Measure2022/232023/242024/25National, latest
Persistent absence41.5%28.9%16.8%23.4%
Overall absence13.5%10.2%6.9%8.4%
GCSE English and maths, grade 5 or above17.3%15.6%30.4%45.4%
Attainment 832.433.839.946.1

Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of possible sessions. At 16.8% the school is now 6.6 percentage points below the national average, having been 15 points above it two years earlier.

The GCSE figures are still below the national average, and the report says so. What changed is the direction and the size of the move: grade 5 passes in English and maths went from 15.6% to 30.4% in a single year.

Where the school does better than the national picture

The most striking comparison in the report is not the headline pass rate. It is how disadvantaged pupils here compare with disadvantaged pupils nationally.

  • Attainment 8, disadvantaged pupils: 38.3 at this school against a national disadvantaged average of 34.9, so the school is ahead.
  • GCSE English and maths grade 5 or above, disadvantaged pupils: 25.5% against 25.8% nationally, which Ofsted classes as close to average. Two years earlier it was 13.3%.
  • The disadvantage gap, measured against non-disadvantaged pupils nationally, narrowed from 39.2 percentage points to 27.6.

That matters because of who the school teaches. 66.1% of its pupils have been eligible for free school meals at some point in the last six years, against a national average of 28.9%. 25.95% are on special educational needs support, against 13.4% nationally. The report records 767 pupils at the time of inspection, in a school with capacity for 750.

Inspectors put it plainly: “Despite facing multiple disadvantages, pupils typically attain grades in national examinations that are at least in line with the national average.” They add that “in some subjects, disadvantaged pupils at this school outperform the average for all pupils nationally.”

What the inspectors saw

The report says that “over recent years, pupils’ experiences at this school have improved dramatically” and that pupils are “incredibly respectful towards staff and each other”. Lessons, it says, “are very rarely disrupted”.

On leadership, graded strong: “The actions that leaders have taken over recent years have led to marked improvements in this school.” Inspectors credit a culture of high expectations built with governors and trustees, a professional development programme funded by the trust, and staff who “feel highly valued and are proud to work at the school”.

Two specific programmes are named. The “BPS way” of teaching, developed since the last inspection, helps teachers move pupils through the curriculum. A “big read” programme has pupils working through a range of texts to build reading knowledge and vocabulary.

On inclusion, also graded strong, the report highlights the school’s partnership with Wirral’s local authority virtual school, which supports children with a social worker, and says those pupils make “rapid progress towards their individual targets”.

The two things Ofsted wants fixed

The report sets out two next steps:

  • embed highly effective teaching across all subjects and year groups, so attainment in national examinations improves further
  • make sure pupils are fully prepared for life in modern Britain, with a comprehensive understanding of fundamental British values including respect for people different to them

On the second, inspectors found that pupils’ understanding of British values and the role of politics in society “is sometimes not as detailed as leaders intend”.

One further figure in the report cuts against the narrative, and it is worth setting out rather than skipping. Inspectors write that “almost all pupils move on to appropriate education, employment or training after Year 11”. The destinations data printed in the same document, which covers 2023 leavers and is the most recent available, shows 76% staying in education or employment for at least two terms after Year 11, against 92% nationally. The two statements are measuring different things over different years, and the older figure is the one that is published.

The report also records that the school uses two alternative provisions, one of them unregistered.

Who runs the school

Birkenhead Park School is an academy on Park Road South, CH43 4UY, for pupils aged 11 to 16. It is part of BePART Educational Trust, whose chief executive is Mike Kilbride and whose board of trustees is chaired by Lyn Hazell. The head of school is Nicola McNamee. The inspection was led by Tom Theobold, His Majesty’s Inspector, with three team inspectors.

What it means for you

  • If you are choosing a secondary school for September 2027, this report is the current one, and the areas graded strong are attendance and behaviour, inclusion, and leadership and governance.
  • Do not go by a one-word rating you find elsewhere. Under the report card framework there is no overall grade, and any “good” or “requires improvement” label attached to this school belongs to the 2023 inspection.
  • If your child has SEND or is eligible for free school meals, the inclusion section and the disadvantaged attainment figures are the parts of this report to read in full.
  • Ofsted will come back. Schools are normally inspected every four years, and monitoring inspections apply to schools with areas graded needs attention or urgent improvement. This school has none.
  • The full report is eight pages and free to download from Ofsted, including all the data tables quoted here.

Planning applications and council decisions affecting Birkenhead are tracked on our Wirral planning news page.

Sources